Helsinki Upper Secondary School of Languages is one of the few schools in Finland with a special educational task in the field of languages. In addition to languages, instruction emphasizes the importance of international affairs, knowledge of foreign cultures and arts, sustainable development and future skills. The aim is that our students learn to understand cultural differences, become active members of the globalized world and feel “at home in the world” both at school and abroad.
Wholeheartedly welcome to explore the world through all our versatile international activities presented both by our culturally active students and teachers on this blog of ours. Enjoy!
Current events and happenings:
Betty’s text about the visit of our Ukrainian guests on October 24
Helsinki Upper Secondary School of Languages had a big group of honored teachers and even a minister visiting from Ukraine a few weeks ago. We showed them around our school and told them a bit about Finnish education system.
Afterwards we had some lunch together at our school and then it was already time to say goodbye. We shared a lot of information regarding the differences in Finnish and Ukrainian education system.
Helsingin kielilukio sai suuren joukon kunnianarvoisia vieraita ja jopa ministerin Ukrainasta vierailemaan koulullemme muutama viikko sitten. Me näytimme heille kouluamme ja kerroimme hieman suomalaisesta koulutusjärjestelmästä.
Myöhemmin söimme lounasta heidän kanssaan koulullamme ja sitten meidän olikin jo aika hyvästellä heidät. Jaoimme toisilemme paljon tietoa eroista suomalaisessa ja ukrainalaisessa koulutusjärjestelmässä.
В Хельсинкской гимназий с углублённым изучением иностранных языков- несколько недель назад была большая группа заслуженных учителей и даже министр с Украины. Мы показали им нашe шкоeе и немного рассказали о финской системе образования.
После этого мы вместе пообедали в нашей школе, а потом пришло время прощаться. Мы поделились большим количеством информации относительно различий в финской и украинской системе образования.
Pictures by HKO
Ladies from afar bringing up some new ideas, October 4, 2019
Our today’s guests arrived from far far away; from Réunion, an overseas department and region of the French Republic. Réunion is a verdant, volcanic island filled with intriguing history, enchanting sceneries and lush vegetation. The whole island is a cultural melting pot in the middle of the Indian Ocean near to Madagascar, only 175 km from Mauritius. And today we in the Upper Secondary of Languages the the utterly interesting occasion to hear more about this enchanting island by our dear new friends Sopie and Adeline. Thank you for your visit and hope to see you soon again!
Danish colleagues and students here on October 1-2
Our Danish friends came to meet us and we spent some marvelous time together both in the city center and at school. In the city we played Seppo together getting to know the most familiar sights of Helsinki -and also each others! At school we had some riveting discussions of the two cultures learning that all Finns practice Tango! 🙂
Hola!
On Monday May 6 we received guests from Granada, Spain. María Prados Olleta (French teacher), María José Pastor Morales (Classical Culture teacher), Fernando Roncero Siles (Technology teacher) and María Consuelo Beltrán Cuellar (English teacher) came to our school after a very adventurous trip to get familiar with our school and the Finnish school system. They followed lessons and participated in several activities at our school and enjoyed a city tour organized by our amazing guides of ENA Cult -course. They also gave us some new insights into both their culture and teaching here in Finland and in Spain. Thank you for letting us learn something new and making us view our system once again from an other perspective! Have a safe trip back home again! Gracias por todo! Espero verte pronto! Besos! 🙂
Possibilities to study international law abroad
Denise-Viola Kohi, a third year student from Maastricht University, visited one of our ENA5 courses on January 7, 2019. She told us about the possibilities to apply for a university in the Netherlands and also talked about he pros and cons of student life there. An extremely insightful presentation that hopefully gave some of the students new perspectives and ideas for their future.
Visitors from Norway
In december we had students and teachers from Norway visiting our school. They wanted to hear about our school system and how it works in practise. We also got to hear some knowledge about their system and school life.
Beijing Science Camp 2018
Our China VIDEO –>Read more about our trip here: China; science camp
Autumn period 2018 – some other international guests
On October 26 we were paid a visit by Dr Michael Haynes and his friend William Doyle. Dr Haynes is a school inspector from the New York school district and surveils an area covering more than 8,000 students and teachers all together. The aim of the visit was to get familiar with our school system and tell us about theirs through an instructive discussion and comparison of the two systems. What an eye-opener this visit was for our ENA5 group! Thanks to all the students who both eagerly presented the Finnish upper secondary system and also participated in the lively discussion!
But naturally that was not all in our school that is always filled with all kinds of events and happenings. Towards the end of October, other enlightening and fun visits followed as two university students, Surabhi Nadig and Alice Lusuardi took us to India and Italy. Science and technology in India were examined and fantastic Italian sceneries were admired. And in addition to all this, we also learnt languages and foreign cultures through movement as Amandine Doat from Zodiak took some of our students to the world of dance and French and Tony Shawn to the intriguing moves of Morrise dancing, a form of English folk dance. Oh boy weren’t we nimble! 🙂
Our language week and life after it continued with other international guests. For instance, Corinna Evans came an gave us a lesson on British youth culture making us dynamic participants of the process with games and other invigorating activities. There were also lessons on Iceland and its fascinating geography by Áslaug Hersteinsdóttir and much, much more.
Warmhearted thanks to everyone who made our language week and all these visits come true!
American teachers visiting us
On Tuesday 25th September 2018, we had the opportunity to meet with four American teachers who wanted to know more about the Finnish school system. We told them about the upper secondary schooling in Finland and presented them some special courses and events our school has to offer. We also showed them a few of our classrooms and explained what they are for. They asked us students about our personal experiences and our opinions on the system. Naturally, the teachers gave their perspectives as well.
Our visitors were curious about how much parents are involved in students’ education. They asked us about teaching techniques and how individual our work is. They were intrigued about the course system and how it works since they don’t have a similar system. Our guests wanted to know if our working pace was too fast and if we were given too much responsibility for our own studies, for instance when planning our own syllabus. Well, we didn’t think so and thus, we had a riveting discussion on the difference of the amount of responsibility given to youngsters both in Finland and in America. We learned that American students are not that much in charge of planning their own studies, which according to us is a learning experience required later in life.
During the visit, our guests also asked about the teachers’ relations and cooperation with their counterparts while teaching. After all, cooperation is an excellent method to improve and see the methods we use from a different perspective. In fact, this visit was one of those valuable examples of international collaboration that made us reflect on our own system and think about the pros and cons of it one day helping us to improve our own ways of both studying and teaching.
Thank you, Sanna, our principal, and Mikko for organizing this visit. Thanks to the Americans for coming, and thanks to Heidi Kohi and Antti Tiger for inviting us students to be a part of this interesting meeting.
– L&S
JAPANI-päivä
Japanin Hanake-hankkeeseen liittyvä Keuda ja Ippo-hankkeen opiskelijapäivä Keudassa Järvenpäässä 9.12.2016. Seminaarissa Miro kertoi vaihtovuodestaan, Peperonia esitteli Cosplay-harrastuksensa ja Kristiina kokeili kimonoa.
Tilaisuus, missä oli mukana myös belgialainen vaihtarimme Thomas, huipentui yhteiseen puikoilla syötyyn sushi-ateriaan uusien seminaarista hankittujen Japani-mielisten ystävien kanssa! Aivan mahtava päivä, ja taas yhtä kokemusta rikkaampina!
LUE LISÄÄ JAPANI-päivästä MIRON BLOGISTA! https://ippohanke.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/japani-opiskelijapaiva-jarvenpaassa/
SCIENCE CAMP in CHINA autumn 2016 (read more HERE)
STUDENT EXCHANGE IN SARDINIA, CAGLIARI November 4-11, 2016
Listen to our music and read more about our trip to Cagliari here: https://ourschoolaroundtheworld.wordpress.com/italy-sardegna-2016/
and watch the pictures of us on the Facebook page of Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (see “pictures” of the theatre): https://www.facebook.com/teatroliricodicagliari/photos/
LA TOSCANA DI ELLA/ ELLA’S TUSCANY; seuraa 2. vuoden opiskelijamme Ellan vaihtovuotta ja seikkailuja Italiassa lukemalla Ellan monivaiheisen suorasanaista ja mahtavaa blogia! Blogin löydät täältä: http://ellyliaho.simplesite.com/)
DENMARK
August 30th – September 2nd, four students and two teachers spent four wonderful days in Nykøbing Falster and Copenhagen, Denmark. Linked below is a short film from the trip.
PORTUGAL IN FINLAND
September 9, 2016 Marta Jorgen (Portuguese TV channel RTP1) interviewing some of our students about the Finnish education system and the possible key factors behind our success in the international PISA tests.
JAPAN IN FINLAND
August 25, 2016 Showa school visit from Japan with an extremely riveting 75-minute group discussion on gender equality
Helsinki Upper Secondary School of Languages international projects:
Kielilukion yrittäjyyskurssi osallistui ensimmäisen kerran Riian International Student Company Festival 2016 -tapahtumaan huhtikuussa. Kaapelit & Palvelut NY edusti hienosti kouluamme konferenssissa, jossa oli 100 NY-yritystä kuudestatoista maasta. Kolmipäiväiseen ohjelmaan kuuluivat esimerkiksi yritysesittelyt englanniksi, yritysvideokilpailu, luennot sekä oman yrityksen tuotteiden myynti kauppakeskus Dominassa.
April 2016; Helsinki Upper Secondary School of Languages participating in the International Student Company Festival in Riga, Latvia. A three-day conference in which there were a hundred companies from 16 different countries selling their products and presenting their business strategies and ideas in English. We are proud of our “Kaapelit & Palvetlut NY”.
- Link to previous projects: see “exchange program”
- Germany Dillenburg: see http://helsinkidillenburg.wordpress.com
- Our Amsterdam 2014-2015
- Comenius project Finland-Italy 2012-2014: De Architectura
Helsinki Upper Secondary School of Languages goes abroad (exchange students) :
- Massimo’s exchange in Finland (2012-2013): the Marriage of Silence & Love
- Lydia and Saara’s exchange in Sardinia 2013-2014
- Yasemin’s Japan 2014-2015
- Ina’s Scottish school experience
- Ina’s adventures and life in Scotland
- Networking – international blog on music in collaboration with Nykøbing Katedralskole and Liceo Scientifico Euclide Cagliari
- Federica’s Finnish experience 2015-2016
- Carlotta’s adventures in Helsinki 2015-2016
- Ella’s YEAR IN ITALY (Tuscany) 2016-2017: http://ellyliaho.simplesite.com/
We around the World 